ideaForge raises Rs 15 crore from BlackSoil

ideaForge, a homegrown UAV manufacturer which recently received a US$20 million order from the Indian Army, has raised Rs 15 crores from BlackSoil. The funds will be used for meeting the working capital requirements of the company to service its large order book.

ideaForge serves a number of homeland and security agencies in the country and has its product portfolio of drones that have been developed keeping in mind the use cases relevant to India. The company has raised funds from US-based WRVI Capital and blue-chip companies like Qualcomm and Infosys. With more than 15 years of R&D and multiple patents in Indian and international market, the company has created a robust product line that is gaining traction in the Indian market. The company has a wide range of customizable products for various applications and has applied for 20+ patents in the Indian and international markets. The company has so far deployed more than 1,000 drones since its inception.

Ankit Mehta, Co-founder and CEO of ideaForge, said the company is pleased to partner with BlackSoil. “The time of the funding is opportune as we expect strong growth in our product pipeline. The funds, along with recent fundraise from Infosys and other investors will support ideaForge in the execution of our burgeoning order book, and we hope to build on this relationship and catapult the company into the next phase of growth.”

Ankur Bansal, Director BlackSoil Capital, said ideaForge has created a robust line of drones backed by best in class hardware and software capabilities. “Their products are best suited for Indian enterprise customers and solve for a wide range of use cases suitable to Indian requirements. We believe the new Indian Army contract is just a beginning for large-scale adoption of UAVs across security, surveillance, mapping for Defence, Industrial and Agricultural applications in India. COVID-19 has also accelerated the adoption and use of drones for various  new use cases in urban areas. It is indeed a pleasure to be associated with such a deep tech company and help our country advance further in the Atmanirbhar initiative in a sunrise sector.”

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BlackSoil’s alternative credit platform has successfully concluded over 50 debt transactions to VC-backed growth companies and start-ups by deploying more than Rs 500 crores in the past four to five years. It is a sector agnostic alternative credit platform and has deployed Rs 1,000 core in the last four years across 80+ transactions.